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Below: Roads were made of dirt, and transportation was limited to horses and horse-drawn carriages. Opposite Page: Joseph H. Diss Debar sketched this early coach, which was used to deliver mail.

When the first hunters, trappers, and explorers crossed the Appala-chians, they followed Indian trails. These trails usually ran along ridges and the crests of mountains to avoid attacks from enemy tribes in the valleys and swampy lowlands. The trappers and explorers carried their provisions on their backs or used pack animals to carry their few posses-sions. When the settlers and farmers came, however, they needed better ways to move their belongings.

These needs resulted in the improvement of roads for overland travel and in the development of vehicles to make travel by water and rail pos-sible. Each improvement opened up western Virginia to settlement as well as industrial development.

402 Chapter 10: Western Virginia in the New Nation—1787-1850

Improving Transportation

section 3

As you read, look for• improvements in road travel;• difficulties in river travel;• improvements in river travel;• types of boats used to carry people and goods;• the impact of the steamboat on commerce and personal

travel;• the impact of the railroad on the economy of western

Virginia;• terms: toll, turnpike, navigable, canal, steamboat,

financier.

section 3: improving Transportation 403

Road TravelIt took Virginians from 1607 until almost 1750 to settle as far as the

Appalachian Mountains. Settlement was slow because there were no roads on which people and their wagons could travel. The first public road in present-day West Virginia was in the eastern panhandle, running from Winchester, Virginia, to the home of Morgan Morgan near Martinsburg. Morgan planned and actually helped construct the road in 1743. Although transportation needs were being addressed in the Potomac area, it took nearly fifty years before western Virginia was joined to the eastern part of the state by good roads.

The surge of road construction between 1790 and 1840 made western Virginia accessible to further settlement. The development of the Con-estoga wagon in Lancaster, Pennsylvania, helped spur both travel and settlement. The wagon was 16 feet long and 4 feet wide, and it could carry up to 8 tons of freight. Its wheels were 6-10 inches wide and sometimes had iron rims. Canvas cloth was stretched over wooden staves (strips of wood that were bent in arcs over the wagon). The ends of the wagon bed were higher than the middle to keep goods from falling out on steep hills.

Something Extra!The Conestoga wagon was usually drawn by 4-6 powerful horses.


TURnPIkESAlthough the Conestoga wagon was able to carry large loads, better

roads were needed to make travel easier. As more roads were built, prop-erty owners were, at first, expected to keep them up. Each male was to devote a certain number of days each year to road maintenance. Main-tenance included filling mudholes as well as making any other improve-ments to ensure that travel might be as comfortable as possible. Since few men actually made an effort to keep up the roads, the government decided that another way must be found to provide for their upkeep. The

result was the establishment of a sys-tem of tolls (fees) that were charged those who used the roads. Money from the tolls was then used for road maintenance. Roads on which tolls were charged became known as turnpikes because a swinging barrier, called a pike, was placed across the road. When the toll was paid, the pike was turned aside to allow access to the road.

The James River and Kanawha Turnpike, also called the Midland Trail, reached the Kanawha Valley in 1790. It was then extended to the Guyandotte River in 1800. By 1809, it had become a toll road, and by 1815 it was the main route across Virginia. Today, this road follows U.S. Route 60 and some parts of Interstate 64. In 1818, the portion of the National Road from Cumberland, Maryland, to Wheeling in western Virginia

Map 27Early Roads in Western Virginia

Parkersburg Clarksburg

Guyandotte

OHIO

PENNSYLVANIA

MD

VIRGINIA

KY

Sutton

RomneyWinchester

Staunton

BeverlyWeston

White Sulphur Springs

Huntersville

Lewisburg

SummersvilleCharleston

Gauley Bridge

Huttonsville

James River & Kanawha Turnpike

West

on &

Gau

ley B

ridge

Pike

Parkersburg & Staunton Turnpike

Hunt

ersv

ille

Turn

pike

Northwestern Turnpike

Map Skill: Which turnpike passed through Clarksburg?

Below: Tolls from the turnpikes were needed to help fund the maintenance of the roads.

National RoadThe original National Road ran from Cumberland, Maryland, 420 miles to Vandalia,

Illinois. The road became a major highway for moving people and commerce throughout the nineteenth and twentieth centuries. It was also one of the most significant roads to eventually become part of U.S. Rt. 40, which originally ran from Atlantic City, New Jersey, to San Francisco, California.

Because of the lack of rapids and seasonally low water in the nearby Ohio River, Wheel-ing was chosen as a terminus of the National Road. It was a good location for goods to be transferred from the road to the river to continue their journey to major river ports. Only sixteen miles of the road actually run through West Virginia. But from the time it reached Wheeling in 1818, the Ohio County city saw significant growth and progress.

History by the Highway



was completed. Approximately 20 feet wide, this road, which follows U.S. Route 40, was one of the most traveled in early American history. Another important road, the Northwestern Turnpike, was completed from Winchester to Parkersburg in 1838. The route, still in use today as U.S. Route 50, runs through Romney, Grafton, and Clarksburg. After decades of inaction on the part of the Virginia government in Richmond, the state finally approved the Staunton and Parkersburg Turnpike, which provided access from the upper Shenandoah Valley to the Ohio River. The road extended from Staunton, Virginia, through Beverly in Randolph County, Buckhannon in Upshur County, and Weston in Lewis County. It finally reached Parkersburg on the Ohio River in 1847. The road opened up large sections of western Virginia to settlement and trade.


STOPOVERSAlong the turnpikes and other highways, inns or taverns were built.

These structures served as rest stops, providing room and board for tired travelers and pasturage for their animals. Laws regulated the prices for food and lodging in the taverns. County courts issued licenses to tavern keepers. For example, the Monongalia court approved the following charges in the late 1700s: breakfast, 33-1/3 cents; dinner, 37-1/2 cents; supper, 33-1/3 cents; lodging with clean sheets, 12-1/2 cents; pasturage for 24 hours, 12-1/2 cents.

Taverns in America were unique in that social class was not observed. Everyone ate and drank at the same table, and rooms were rented on a “first come, first served” basis, regardless of a person’s “rank” in society. Travelers might have to share a room, or even a bed, with a complete stranger. Europeans, used to a more structured social class system, believed this was carrying democracy too far. Some inns became social centers. The Greenbrier at White Sulphur Springs can trace its cultural heritage back to the inns located on the James River and Kanawha Turnpike.

The taverns also served as stopovers for stagecoaches carrying pas-sengers, luggage, and mail across western Virginia. Stagecoaches, which came in all sizes and shapes, were more comfortable and faster than the Conestoga wagons. Starting out as little more than boxes on wheels that bounced all over the place, the stagecoaches were improved when their shape and structure were changed. They became more egg-shaped, and leather straps were placed under the coach to act as shock absorbers and give a smoother, more comfortable ride.

Something Extra!The best-known stagecoaches were called Concord stagecoaches. They were built by the Abbot Downing Company in Concord, New Hampshire.

Opposite Page, Top: There are still turnpikes in use today. Opposite Page, Bottom: Country roads often fall into disrepair. Below: The Old Stone House, formerly the Red Horse Tavern, on the Northwestern Turnpike (now U.S. 50) was built by Henry Grimes in 1827.


Water TravelRiver travel had many dangers and problems. There were no dams

or reservoirs to keep the river levels fairly constant. The water level and the flow of the rivers increased and decreased with the seasons. Dur-ing the spring, the rivers were swollen with water from melting snow. They became raging torrents, at times overflowing their banks. Until the spring floods were over, river travel was unreliable. As spring changed to summer, river travel increased. During the summer, especially if there was little rain, the water level fell until many rivers were not navigable (suitable for a boat to sail on) because of rapids and rocks.

Below: Horse-and-carriages wait on the ferry platform with a railroad bridge in the background. Opposite Page, Inset: The Wheeling Suspension Bridge was built in 1849. It was the longest bridge in the world at that time and the first to span the Ohio River.


FERRIESThe early pioneers and settlers had the problem of crossing the rivers.

While fords (shallow places) and narrow bridges were used to cross small streams, ferries were the main means of crossing larger rivers. Remind-ers of these early river crossings can be seen in the names of places like Harpers Ferry, which was named for Robert Harper who purchased land in 1747 and operated a ferry there.

Many westerners complained about the fees and the interruptions in ferry service. Ferries did not operate at night or when water levels were high. Some, like the ferry over the Ohio at the end of the National Road in Wheeling, were not large enough to accommodate the traffic wanting to cross the river.

BRIDgESA better way was needed to transport goods across the Ohio River.

Pressure on politicians and improvements in bridge-building resulted in a changeover from ferries to bridges. In 1849, after two years of con-struction and at a cost of $250,000, Wheeling was connected to Ohio by the Wheeling Suspension Bridge. At about the same time, a European development–the covered bridge–began to be used by American bridge designers and builders.


Special Feature

Covered BridgesCovered bridges became more popular after 1850, when the board of public works of Virginia accepted

bids for the construction of bridges on the Staunton and Parkersburg Turnpike. In Richmond, the board listened to many detailed plans for bridges before an unusual demonstration took place. Lemuel Chenoweth came forward and quickly assembled a model of a covered bridge, which he had brought on a 250-mile-long journey from Beverly in Randolph County. He placed the bridge on two facing chairs, climbed up on the bridge, walked across, climbed down, and said, “Gentlemen, this is all I have to say.”

Chenoweth’s impressive demonstration and low bid won him the contract. He became West Virginia’s premier bridge builder. Chenoweth planned and built bridges all across the state, including one at Bar-rackville, crossing Buffalo Creek and the twin-barreled bridge at Philippi. The bridge at Philippi burned in 1989. It was closed to traffic while it was being restored, and it reopened to the public in 1991. The bridge at Barrackville is still standing.

Hundreds of covered bridges were built in what is now West Virginia, but only a few remain. Many were destroyed by natural causes such as age, others by intentional destruction. In 1947, there were eighty-nine covered bridges still standing in West Virginia; forty years later, there were only seventeen. Losing seventy-two bridges in forty years equates to losing one and a half a year. Those bridges that still stand have become important examples of our heritage and still serve as important transportation routes.


Two important covered bridges were built on the James River and Kanawha Turnpike. One of these massive bridges, 422 feet long, crossed the Greenbrier at Caldwell. The other, 480 feet long, crossed the Gauley at its mouth. Many people were hurt financially by the new bridges. Within a year of its construction, the bridge over the Gauley was burned by lo-cal ferry owners. The arsonists were caught and jailed, and the bridge was rebuilt. It was burned two more times, however, before retreating Confederate troops burned it for the last time during the Civil War.

CAnALSAnother form of transportation that enjoyed a brief period of popularity

was the canal. A canal is a waterway that joins one river or body of water to another. The federal and state governments provided over $100 million for the building of these routes of transportation in America. Before the entire system could be completed, however, the canals were outdated.

Construction began with much ceremony on such projects as the Chesapeake and Ohio Canal. That canal followed the route of the Potomac River between Cumberland, Maryland, and Washington, D.C., making it possible to transport goods from western Virginia to the eastern seaboard. Another project was intended to join the Potomac and Monongahela rivers. However, all the projects stopped at the same barrier–the mountains. Weather caused other problems. Barges on the canals could carry tons of goods pulled by one mule, but the canals froze in winter, limiting their use.

FLATBOATSFor river transportation, the early pioneers used

canoes, which were little more than dugouts made from readily available yellow poplar trees. As settlements grew, however, larger and better boats were needed. Hollowed-out logs were replaced by flatboats (rafts guided with an oar), which soon became the preferred method of travel. Then someone found that putting 2-3-foot sides on the raft would keep the cargo safer. Sometimes a tent or cabin placed on the boat provided shelter.

These flatboats were moved by push-ing poles into the river bottom. But push- i n g the boats upstream was difficult because of the raft’s flat front and bottom. As a result, the boats usually only trav- e l e d downstream. After completing a trip, t h e boat’s logs and timber were often used to build a shelter or cabin.

Something Extra!In 1981, all seventeen of the covered bridges in West Virginia were listed on the National Register of Historic Places.

Below: The building of canals enjoyed a brief period of popularity. Bottom: This flatboat is in The Trough of the Potomac River.


kEELBOATSFlatboats provided efficient downstream transportation, but there was

a need for a boat that could not only be steered but also make the return trip upstream. The keelboat, which remained in use until the 1900s, served this purpose and became the best form of river transportation until the advent of the steamboat. Keelboats too were powered by men who walked along a running board, pushing long poles in the water. The boat differed from the flatboat, however, by having a bow (front end) shaped to cut through the water and a keel, a strong piece of wood or metal that ran along the bottom of the boat. The crews of these boats were a rough-and-tumble group and, when a replacement was needed, were not above kidnapping someone from a local tavern and putting him to work.

Sometimes sails were added to keelboats, but these generally didn’t work very well. Sails were used sparingly on the inland waterways, although some ocean-going vessels with sails were built in the Ohio Valley. Wheeling, Marietta, and Pittsburgh became shipbuilding centers. The first ocean-going vessel was built at Elizabeth on the Monongahela River in 1793. Another schooner, the Monongahela Farmer, was built to carry over 70 tons of cargo.

STEAmBOATSThe coming of the steamboat completely revolutionized river travel.

Built to carry huge cargoes and many people, this innovative use of steam power has become a part of American folklore and history.

Two men, James Rumsey and Robert Fulton, share the honor of adapt-ing the steam engine to water transportation. A resident of the eastern

Below: James Rumsey developed a steam-powered boat in 1787. Bottom: Steamboats were able to transport large groups of people and carry large cargo.


panhandle, Rumsey developed a steam-powered boat, which he launched on the Potomac River in 1787. Although Rumsey was the first to success-fully demonstrate a steamboat, improvements to his engine required that he go to England for financial support. In 1792, before he could perfect his invention, he died.

While many people worked on the development of the steamboat, final credit goes to Robert Fulton. In 1807, Fulton demonstrated his boat, the Clermont, by traveling 150 miles from New York to Albany at an average speed of 6 miles per hour. It was the first successful demonstration of the practicality and endurance of the steam engine for water transportation.

One of Fulton’s wealthy backers, Nicholas J. Roosevelt, saw a future for the steamboat. Roosevelt, Fulton, and Robert M. Livingston, another financier (one who provides the funds for an undertaking), explored the idea of building steamboats to increase trade on major rivers like the Mississippi and Ohio. In 1809, Roosevelt and his wife decided to travel by flatboat down the Ohio and Mississippi rivers from Pittsburgh to New Orleans to see first-hand the potential of two-way steamboat travel. Roos-evelt was able to see far beyond the dangers of the river and recognized the economic growth and development the steamboat could bring.

He returned to Pittsburgh and helped finance the building of the first steamboat to travel on the Ohio and Mississippi rivers. The New Orleans was launched in 1811 and successfully traveled the rivers for two years until it struck a snag and sank. In spite of the fate of the New Orleans, river travel had entered a new era. Because of his foresight, Roosevelt has been called “The Father of Steamboat Trade.”

Something Extra!Nicholas J. Roosevelt was the grandfather of President Theodore Roosevelt.


After the New Orleans proved that shipping goods by steamboat was profitable, other steamboats soon appeared. In 1815, the Enterprise, owned and operated by Wheeling’s Captain Henry Shreve, made the first trip upstream from New Orleans to Louisville. The Enterprise, like the New Orleans, was built like an ocean-going vessel, with the engines and boil-ers (tanks where water was heated to make steam) below decks. Boats with this type of construction drew too much water to easily navigate the shallow parts of the rivers. As a result, the Enterprise could only make trips when the water levels were high.

Using his knowledge of river travel, Henry Shreve built another boat, the Washington, from the timbers of Wheeling’s Fort Henry. Shreve knew that steamboat traffic stopped when the water level of the rivers was low. He built the Washington so the boilers and engine were on the first deck, where they created a very shallow draft. He then built a second deck over the first. The new design was the forerunner of those majestic riverboats that conjure up pictures of gamblers, fancy shows, slave trad-ing, peddlers, preachers, and settlers. Although they played a brief part in the evolution of river transportation, these boats played an important role in opening the West to settlement. But before long, these “river queens” were surpassed by the power and versatility of a new giant–the railroad.

Below: The railway and bridge running through Harpers Ferry. Opposite Page: Peter Cooper’s steam engine, Tom Thumb, lost in a race with a railroad car pulled by a horse when a belt broke and had to be replaced.


Railroad TravelRailroad travel posed many of the same problems as river travel. Early

trains were drawn by horses, and railroads really did not gain importance until steam was used to power them.

Wooden rails had been in use in England for over one hundred years. Iron strips were sometimes laid on top of the wood, and horses pulled the cars. At first, the tracks were flanged to keep the wagons on the tracks. That is, the tracks were made with a special rim or edge to hold the wheels on the track. Later, the wheels were flanged instead of the tracks. In 1804, an Englishman, George Stephenson, built a steam locomotive that could pull 30 tons at 4 miles an hour. The progress made in England in rail travel did not go unnoticed in the United States. In 1825, John Stevens, a Revolutionary War officer, successfully ran a steam locomo-tive on tracks in New Jersey. After this, the railroad began to develop as a means of transportation.

EARLy STEAm EngInESHorses still provided power for trains when Peter Cooper unveiled his

steam engine, the Tom Thumb. Many doubted whether his engine could make a lasting impact, but others were excited by its appearance. In 1830,


Cooper’s tiny engine was challenged to a race. The Tom Thumb was ahead in the race when a belt broke and had to be repaired. The horse-drawn rail car surged ahead and won the race. Many people who witnessed the race, however, foresaw the future of steam and rails.

Early steam engines did not have much power until the position of the boilers was changed from vertical to horizontal, allowing boilers to become larger. In 1837, the Lafayette became the first horizontal boiler locomotive in America. Just as the new boiler location on steamboats al-lowed growth, the new horizontal boiler position on trains provided the power the engines needed to push across the Appalachian Mountains.

Locomotives became popular and successful for many reasons. Railroads did not freeze in winter like canals, nor did the steam engine require daily care like horses. Economics also played an important part in railroad de-velopment in western Virginia. Cities along the East Coast wanted the trade and markets that existed across the mountains. The desire to be first made leaders in Phila-delphia, Baltimore, New York, and other cities compete for rail connections to the West.

THE BALTImORE AnD OHIO RAILROADBefore this time, Maryland had important connections to the West.

The National Road and a plan to build a canal to connect the Potomac to the Monongahela held great promise for Maryland’s trade with the West. The railroad, however, changed Maryland’s plans. The Baltimore and Ohio Railroad had been chartered in 1827. On July 4, 1828, construction began in Baltimore on a rail line that would reach across western Virginia.

Building the B & O was not an easy task. Besides the overwhelming obstacle of the mountains, intense rivalry between Maryland and its border states, Virginia and Pennsylvania, slowed the progress of rail lines into western Virginia. Since all three states competed for the same western markets, neither Virginia nor Pennsylvania wanted to accept Maryland’s plan for the B & O. With plans to develop their own rail sys-tem, Pennsylvania officials would not even consider Maryland’s plans. Virginia’s officials, on the other hand, were at least open to hearing what Maryland proposed to do.


It took fourteen years for the B & O to reach Cumberland, Maryland. Building was stopped when the railroad reached Virginia’s border; nothing more was done for the next five years. During that time, Maryland’s of-ficials waited for Virginia’s approval to cross the state border. The Virginia legislature eventually approved the charter, but it required that the rail line run north of the Little Kanawha to protect the economic interests of Virginia’s coastal cities.

Construction of the railroad in present-day West Virginia began in 1848. Mountains towering over 2,000 feet had to be crossed or cut through. When it was finished in 1853, the rail line from Cumberland to Wheeling had eleven tunnels and over one hundred bridges. The most outstanding engineering marvel was the 4,100-foot tunnel at Tunnelton in Preston County. The tunnel took three years to build and was the longest tunnel in the world at the time.

Where to terminate the railroad was another major decision. Parkers-burg and Wheeling were the main choices. Finally, Wheeling was chosen as the Ohio River terminus (the last station at the end of a railroad line), and there were plans to extend the railroad to Cincinnati. Parkersburg, not to be outdone, pushed for a terminus and won support from direc-tors of the B & O. A branch line, the Northwestern Virginia Railroad, was chartered in 1851 to run from Grafton to Parkersburg.

When the Parkersburg charter was signed, the Wheeling line was still under construction. The last rail and spike were not driven until December 24, 1852, and the first train arrived in Wheeling with much celebration

Opposite Page, Top: A horizontal steam engine provided more power and enabled trains to move through the mountains. Opposite Page, Bottom: The B&O Railroad tracks wind through West Virginia and mountains that tower over 2,000 feet high. Above: Building the 4,100-foot tunnel at Tunnelton in Preston County was an outstanding engineering marvel.

Something Extra!Because the owners thought this railroad would be important to the country, they invited the only surviving signer of the Declaration of Independence, Charles Carroll, to lay the first rail.


on January 1, 1853. The line opened for passenger and freight service on January 10. The Northwestern, finished four years later, became more important than the Wheeling line because it was a more direct route to Cincinnati and other points west.

The B & O and the Northwestern were the only railroads operating in present-day West Virginia before the Civil War. In the 1850s, connecting lines extended all the way to Cincinnati and St. Louis. The “iron horse,” as the railroad was called, rapidly conquered the land. By the 1850s, a per-son could travel by rail from Baltimore to Wheeling for $8.50 in 20 hours.

The B & O played an important role, not only in the economic development of western Virginia and the nation, but also in helping the North during the Civil War. The railroad’s path had a direct effect on

the development of West Virginia’s eastern panhandle, and it helped create towns and added to the economic growth of present-day West Virginia.

Western Virginia is surrounded by natural bypasses. Few pioneers had crossed the mountains, preferring to go around the area blocked by the Appalachians. When the railroad was finished, however, there was a direct, easy route to the interior of the region. Besides bringing growth to the region, the railroad brought cultural change. Persons of many na-tionalities came into western Virginia to construct the railroad lines that linked mountaineers with the rest of the nation.

Map 28Railroads in West-ern Virginia, 1860

Parkersburg Clarksburg

OHIO

PENNSYLVANIA

MD

VIRGINIA

KY

Keyser MartinsburgFairmont

Charleston

Wheeling

HarpersFerryGrafton

RailroadsB. & O. R.R.N.W. R.R.

Baltimore & Ohio RailroadNorthwestern Railroad

N.W. R.R.

B.&O. R.R.

Map Skill: On the map, what is the western terminus of the B & O Railroad?

Reviewing the Section

Reviewing the Content

1. What purpose did inns and taverns serve?

2. Why were western Virginia’s rivers not navigable at times?

3. Why did easterners want railroads built in western Virginia?

Using the Content

Write a first-person account describing a trip on an early steam-boat or railroad.

Extending the Reading Skill

According to the information in Section 3, what effect did the ineffectiveness of the flatboat have on the development of better river transportation?

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